The Jarmo Report (card)

[CBJWerenski8]

Went to the article excited (because I love deadspins Why Your Team Sucks.) and came away disappointed. There were some funny parts, but ehhh. I guess I'm spoiled from deadspin.

 

[Forepar]

Went to the article excited (because I love deadspins Why Your Team Sucks.) and came away disappointed. There were some funny parts, but ehhh. I guess I'm spoiled from deadspin.

Too close to the trust - hurts.

It is funny when the hyperbole is clearly overblown. Not so funny when closer to reality than intended.

 

[major major]

Too close to the trust - hurts.

It is funny when the hyperbole is clearly overblown. Not so funny when closer to reality than intended.

I'd say not so funny when (closer to reality) the team actually sucks, and (further from reality) the comedy routine just reiterates easily debunked "soj" style explanations of the Jackets dysfunction, and some folks here think it is "spot on" analysis.

I have spent a great deal of time trying to understand why the Jackets suck, so as you can imagine it didn't seem very funny. I think we could all write better analyses and better comedies than this one.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Too close to the trust - hurts.

It is funny when the hyperbole is clearly overblown. Not so funny when closer to reality than intended.

No, I loved the Deadspin article slamming my favorite NFL team. Thought it was hilarious. But this Blue Jacket one was just ehh. I wish they would have included fan input like Deadspin does, those are my favorites.

 

[213 Sentinel]

Sure...it was a dump on Ohio rant by some random DB Toronto blogger...but this organization has been a joke. What has everyone so optimistic this team is going somewhere this year? Are you expecting our incoming young talent to carry us? I enjoyed going up to Cleveland for 6-7 Monster games (Playoff & Reg Season). However, expecting rookies to make a huge difference on a team that otherwise finished 27th in the league seems crazy. Who was the last rookie difference maker for CBJ? Mason?

Personally, I don't see this team going anywhere for another 3 years. All we can do is burn off our **** contracts and hope some young talent develops. I've been buying season tickets since Day One and only the Jeff Carter/Rick Nash season was worse to sit through than last year. I'm going to just expect suck for the near future to avoid the disappointment. We very likely will start either 1-4-2 or 2-4-1 in October vs Bos,SJ,Chi, @Dal,@LA,@Ana,@SJ. 3-3-1 would be a huge surprise and successful month.

I just hope I can make some money back on my Penguins, Blackhawk, & Wings games and try to look for some positives in the other games I can't sell. It's laughable now to recall that last year about this time, this forum was trying to come up with an awesome name for the Saad-Johnson-Foligno line.

Also, what's the coorelation between Ladd and Clarkson? I guess I missed that reference. Was Ladd offered instead of Clarkson or something? How about Jarmo just insuring his assets instead of gambling away $35 million?

Jarmo's gone backwards since he inherited a team that missed the playoffs on a tie-breaker and then made the playoffs next year. He gave away Gaborik for practically nothing during our only 2nd playoff appearance. I despise him selling when we were in the playoff hunt. But, Hey!, we got draft picks which supposedly >>> than having Gaborik for the playoffs because drafting is Jarmo's strong point! At least that's what we keep hearing, because other than Wennberg, none of his draft picks since he joined the CBJ have played significant time in the NHL. His trades have been lateral or backwards and FA signings have been mostly crap. Wash, Rinse and Repeat.

And next year, we'll have the good fortune of sending one of our decent players with a decent contract to the Las Vegas expansion team while we are forced to use our protection status on guys like David Clarkson, Dubi, Foligno, Bob and other players with no trade contracts. I'd place a bet that the Vegas NHL team will win a playoff series before the CBJ do.

How irritating is it that the NHL will gift Vegas a competitve team by having far more favorable expansion draft AND entry draft positioning than anything they did for the Wild, CBJ, Thrasher/Jets, or Preds? Those 4 expansion teams now have combined for 63 seasons, yet only won 7 playoff series between them, which includes the Wild winning two series in 2003 to make the conference finals. So wonderful for NHL fan development in new markets when the four teams have only managed 1 conference final between them and 6 second round appearances.

So, what does have everyone so optimisitic for this season? Help me out

 

[SuperGenius]

Sure...it was a dump on Ohio rant by some random DB Toronto blogger...but this organization has been a joke. What has everyone so optimistic this team is going somewhere this year? Are you expecting our incoming young talent to carry us? I enjoyed going up to Cleveland for 6-7 Monster games (Playoff & Reg Season). However, expecting rookies to make a huge difference on a team that otherwise finished 27th in the league seems crazy. Who was the last rookie difference maker for CBJ? Mason?<snip>

I think this team has every bit the same chance of being a playoff team the same way I felt about it the last two seasons. Whatever happens, I don't believe they're as bad as last year. I think every season is different and every game is different, but I believe these guys are, collectively, much better than they've shown. 14-15 was the injury year. It was freakish and unpredictable to have that many problems. 15-16 was over so quickly. The disappointment started in the first game and lasted until well into the first month. It had to have been crushing to be part of that for the players, and there simply wasn't a way to dig out.

I believe Torts will have these guys in a mental state that helps them avoid the types of stupid losses and streaks that they've endured over the last couple years. I believe the core is good and I believe Jarmo has the organization in good shape. I expect the veterans to change this organizations direction by performing up to their capabilities - not the rookies. I expect the rookies to enjoy the ride and become a huge part of this team down the stretch.

 

[CBJx614]

I think this team has every bit the same chance of being a playoff team the same way I felt about it the last two seasons. Whatever happens, I don't believe they're as bad as last year. I think every season is different and every game is different, but I believe these guys are, collectively, much better than they've shown. 14-15 was the injury year. It was freakish and unpredictable to have that many problems. 15-16 was over so quickly. The disappointment started in the first game and lasted until well into the first month. It had to have been crushing to be part of that for the players, and there simply wasn't a way to dig out.

I believe Torts will have these guys in a mental state that helps them avoid the types of stupid losses and streaks that they've endured over the last couple years. I believe the core is good and I believe Jarmo has the organization in good shape. I expect the veterans to change this organizations direction by performing up to their capabilities - not the rookies. I expect the rookies to enjoy the ride and become a huge part of this team down the stretch.

Exactly glad to see im not the only one with at least a somewhat optimistic view of this season. There are only a few of us left these days.

 

[SuperGenius]

Exactly glad to see im not the only one with at least a somewhat optimistic view of this season. There are only a few of us left these days.

I'm always optimistic about this team. I'm also often wrong. However, from the core of my being, I do not believe they were as bad as the result last season.

When someone's beaten in a race, they often limp to the finish line. Is it a character flaw? Maybe - but it's also very natural and very, very hard to find motivation when you're staring at 25 or more in front of you. I think if they could have recovered quickly and stayed in it, they would have finished in the middle third, not 27. They couldn't recover and were well out of it by Thanksgiving. Between the results, the poor play and coaching change, they simply couldn't recover. Veterans with something to prove, improved D and a coach with something to prove along with rookies looking to make their mark - all point to better results this season.

 

[Tulipunaruusu*]

I do not think it was a case of motivation, as it hardly ever is, but of mental breakdown last season.

Finland collapsed in a similar manner in Spring 2003 World Championship elimination game 5-6 to Sweden after leading 5-1, in Helsinki. 2004 World Cup brought silver under the new head coach Raimo Summanen so it was not like everything was lost in destruction of 2003 as Finland would collect silver at World Cup, silver at Torino and bronze at Sotshi with Summanen-Westerlund approach.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

I'm always optimistic about this team. I'm also often wrong. However, from the core of my being, I do not believe they were as bad as the result last season.

When someone's beaten in a race, they often limp to the finish line. Is it a character flaw? Maybe - but it's also very natural and very, very hard to find motivation when you're staring at 25 or more in front of you. I think if they could have recovered quickly and stayed in it, they would have finished in the middle third, not 27.They couldn't recover and were well out of it by Thanksgiving. Between the results, the poor play and coaching change, they simply couldn't recover. Veterans with something to prove, improved D and a coach with something to prove along with rookies looking to make their mark - all point to better results this season.

A very valid point. It's very, very hard to keep up one's intensity when one knows that he's lost. Sure, guys offer up the cliches,"it's not over""we're professionals" etc., but they knew they were done last year by the first week in November. It's almost impossible to keep one's competitive edge at a peak level for a significant time frame when one knows deep down that he's beaten.

I don't think that there's any doubt that the CBJ are a much better team than they showed last year. Whether they're good enough to be a playoff team is debatable. Everything that could go wrong went wrong to make them 27th overall last season.

 

[EspenK]

I'm always optimistic about this team. I'm also often wrong. However, from the core of my being, I do not believe they were as bad as the result last season.

When someone's beaten in a race, they often limp to the finish line. Is it a character flaw? Maybe - but it's also very natural and very, very hard to find motivation when you're staring at 25 or more in front of you. I think if they could have recovered quickly and stayed in it, they would have finished in the middle third, not 27. They couldn't recover and were well out of it by Thanksgiving. Between the results, the poor play and coaching change, they simply couldn't recover. Veterans with something to prove, improved D and a coach with something to prove along with rookies looking to make their mark - all point to better results this season.

While not optimistic, I think this is a valid assessment of last year and the upcoming season. Who knows? If this team shows a beginning reminiscent of the 15-1-1 finish of 2 years ago anything is possible, If they start 0-8 (which based on the schedule is more likely) look out below. I'm hoping for a close to .500 performance over the first 16 and improvement from there.

 

[major major]

When someone's beaten in a race, they often limp to the finish line. Is it a character flaw? Maybe - but it's also very natural and very, very hard to find motivation when you're staring at 25 or more in front of you. .

I think it'll take luck to make the playoffs, but I agree with you that the 27th place finish was somewhat of an aberration. From the Jones trade until March 8th, IIRC, they played at a playoff pace. That's when Torts broke up the lines and said it's time to figure things out for next year. And they tumbled back down the standings.

 

[BluejacketNut]

Well, the good or possibly bad thing, is they have a chance to prove last year was a fluke because its pretty much the same team. Injuries will happen, its pretty much one of the only guarantee's in the season other then they'll play 82 games.

 

[major major]

I went back and checked the record between the Jones trade and March 8th. The club lost the first three after the trade, and then went 13-6-4 until March 8th. If I remember correctly the lines were Saad - Wennberg - Hartnell (easier minutes), and Jenner - Dubinsky - Atkinson (tough minutes). They scored plenty of goals, and had clawed their way back to about 21st in the league. That's when Torts started his experiments (which I support!), and the day to day emphasis on winning was gone. That and Foligno and Hartnell were useless down the stretch.

I divide last season into three parts. The first part was crisis mode, a crisis about Johansen that was also a Jackets identity crisis. The second part was the new Jackets, who played like they knew who they were, and worked for every win. The third part was, well, I like to call it the experimental mode.

If I hadn't seen that middle version of the Jackets come together, I wouldn't be the least bit optimistic about this year.

 

[EspenK]

I went back and checked the record between the Jones trade and March 8th. The club lost the first three after the trade, and then went 13-6-4 until March 8th. If I remember correctly the lines were Saad - Wennberg - Hartnell (easier minutes), and Jenner - Dubinsky - Atkinson (tough minutes). They scored plenty of goals, and had clawed their way back to about 21st in the league. That's when Torts started his experiments (which I support!), and the day to day emphasis on winning was gone. That and Foligno and Hartnell were useless down the stretch.

I divide last season into three parts. The first part was crisis mode, a crisis about Johansen that was also a Jackets identity crisis. The second part was the new Jackets, who played like they knew who they were, and worked for every win. The third part was, well, I like to call it the experimental mode.

If I hadn't seen that middle version of the Jackets come together, I wouldn't be the least bit optimistic about this year.

I went back and checked the stretch you referenced. Not a real tough stretch and not a lot of major wins. Still a nice pace, which if maintained for a full season, produces 107 pts which allows for another 5 losses and still make the playoffs with 97 points.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

I went back and checked the record between the Jones trade and March 8th. The club lost the first three after the trade, and then went 13-6-4 until March 8th. If I remember correctly the lines were Saad - Wennberg - Hartnell (easier minutes), and Jenner - Dubinsky - Atkinson (tough minutes). They scored plenty of goals, and had clawed their way back to about 21st in the league. That's when Torts started his experiments (which I support!), and the day to day emphasis on winning was gone. That and Foligno and Hartnell were useless down the stretch.

I divide last season into three parts. The first part was crisis mode, a crisis about Johansen that was also a Jackets identity crisis. The second part was the new Jackets, who played like they knew who they were, and worked for every win. The third part was, well, I like to call it the experimental mode.

If I hadn't seen that middle version of the Jackets come together, I wouldn't be the least bit optimistic about this year.

Call it what you want, but you've really cherry-picked this one. It would be interesting to see where the Jackets would rank if one took the best 23 game stretch of every team last season. My guess would be-still out of the playoffs.

I absolutely will not do the work to prove that, however.

 

[MoeBartoli]

i am optimistic about this season and think we were better than our final record. For me, it's the defense that gives me a positive feeling. I believe the addition of Jones allows the D Corp to better slot into more legit roles by having JMFJ and Savard as second pair instead of one being on the top line. Jones and Murray may be another year away from being true top liners, but they nevertheless create a better overall fit. I am also convinced we'll see overall better net play as Bob cannot be as bad at the start as last year, and Korpisalo changes how we utilize the back up (yes, I have Korpisalo over Forsberg and McBackup).

Now whether we make the playoffs or not is another question, but I do think we will be in the hunt. And that makes me look forward to the coming year.

 

[CBJx614]

Something else to take into consideration (which I think gets forgotten) that Jarmo deserves credit for is the hiring of Brad Shaw. Which given how young our D is and the defense first mindset we seem to be going for could really help shape the future of the organization. Torts and Shaw are both no nonsense coaches. Everyone is going to be held accountable and the kids are gonna be on very tight leashes on both sides of the ice(and hopefully off ice as well)

 

[major major]

Call it what you want, but you've really cherry-picked this one. It would be interesting to see where the Jackets would rank if one took the best 23 game stretch of every team last season. My guess would be-still out of the playoffs.

Definitely. 13-6-4 is not that good as far as best stretches go. And like I mentioned, they lost the three before that, so you can call it 13-9-4, which doesn't get the team out of the playoff bubble.

I do consider the Jones trade and the March 8th lineup blender to be appropriate points for demarcating the season. I said so at the time, that Torts was calling it a year with more than a month to go.

 

[Dr. Fire]

For me, this season boils down to two things.

1. Can a much younger, but more talented defense hold up?

and

2. Can Bob rebound and play more like the Vezina Bob?

Collectively, this offense can score enough goals to win plenty of hockey games, even without a true #1 center. The key will be the young D, and the goal-tending.

If the young D gels, and Bob rebounds, we are at least in the hunt. If not, forget about it.

 

[JacketsDavid]

For me, this season boils down to two things.

1. Can a much younger, but more talented defense hold up?

and

2. Can Bob rebound and play more like the Vezina Bob?

Collectively, this offense can score enough goals to win plenty of hockey games, even without a true #1 center. The key will be the young D, and the goal-tending.

If the young D gels, and Bob rebounds, we are at least in the hunt. If not, forget about it.

I think that's a fair assessment.
I think the beginning schedule needs to be mentioned as an issue as well.

 

[Xoggz22]

Guys on Sirrius XM beat us up today for our 8 players making over 4m. Thinking about it and Clarkson is the worst of that group. If Bob plays well I can live with his 7m. Over pay on Foligno for sure; Dubinsky 1.x above market; but really ok with the rest (Jones, Saad, Savard)

For the record the guys on Power Play (XM) have also indicated they believe the CBJ have talent and should be in the mix for the playsn't getting the return on the contracts (certainly not last year) and I agree with them but if you get 50 pts out of Foligno, Dubi and Hartnell - which is not a stretch in my opinion - those contracts aren't bad. However, can they provide value through the length of the deals. I'm not sure Dubi and Foligno will and Hartnell's salary declines so it only become a Cap issue (still an issue) moving forward.

I have no issue with Saad, Jones or Savard. Bob's scares me but I'm the eternal optimist and think he returns to form and stays healthy.... I said I'm the eternal optimist...

 

[CBJx614]

Seth Jones was on nhl tonight this morning/last night and he seemed pretty excited to get the season going. He's already in columbus and said Torts basically treats everyone the same.

The analysts did their CBJ preview and both thought the jackets are better than their record indicated but were very worried about the first 5 weeks. But said if they can make it pass that they would be in really good shape. They kept mentioning everyone BUT Saad. And in the last 20 seconds they realized "oh we haven't even mentioned Brandon Saad.."

Like really you're gonna forget about the most offensively skilled player on our team?

 

[Xoggz22]

Sure...it was a dump on Ohio rant by some random DB Toronto blogger...but this organization has been a joke. What has everyone so optimistic this team is going somewhere this year? Are you expecting our incoming young talent to carry us? I enjoyed going up to Cleveland for 6-7 Monster games (Playoff & Reg Season). However, expecting rookies to make a huge difference on a team that otherwise finished 27th in the league seems crazy. Who was the last rookie difference maker for CBJ? Mason?

Personally, I don't see this team going anywhere for another 3 years. All we can do is burn off our **** contracts and hope some young talent develops. I've been buying season tickets since Day One and only the Jeff Carter/Rick Nash season was worse to sit through than last year. I'm going to just expect suck for the near future to avoid the disappointment. We very likely will start either 1-4-2 or 2-4-1 in October vs Bos,SJ,Chi, @Dal,@LA,@Ana,@SJ. 3-3-1 would be a huge surprise and successful month.

I just hope I can make some money back on my Penguins, Blackhawk, & Wings games and try to look for some positives in the other games I can't sell. It's laughable now to recall that last year about this time, this forum was trying to come up with an awesome name for the Saad-Johnson-Foligno line.

Also, what's the coorelation between Ladd and Clarkson? I guess I missed that reference. Was Ladd offered instead of Clarkson or something? How about Jarmo just insuring his assets instead of gambling away $35 million?

Jarmo's gone backwards since he inherited a team that missed the playoffs on a tie-breaker and then made the playoffs next year. He gave away Gaborik for practically nothing during our only 2nd playoff appearance. I despise him selling when we were in the playoff hunt. But, Hey!, we got draft picks which supposedly >>> than having Gaborik for the playoffs because drafting is Jarmo's strong point! At least that's what we keep hearing, because other than Wennberg, none of his draft picks since he joined the CBJ have played significant time in the NHL. His trades have been lateral or backwards and FA signings have been mostly crap. Wash, Rinse and Repeat.

And next year, we'll have the good fortune of sending one of our decent players with a decent contract to the Las Vegas expansion team while we are forced to use our protection status on guys like David Clarkson, Dubi, Foligno, Bob and other players with no trade contracts. I'd place a bet that the Vegas NHL team will win a playoff series before the CBJ do.

How irritating is it that the NHL will gift Vegas a competitve team by having far more favorable expansion draft AND entry draft positioning than anything they did for the Wild, CBJ, Thrasher/Jets, or Preds? Those 4 expansion teams now have combined for 63 seasons, yet only won 7 playoff series between them, which includes the Wild winning two series in 2003 to make the conference finals. So wonderful for NHL fan development in new markets when the four teams have only managed 1 conference final between them and 6 second round appearances.

So, what does have everyone so optimisitic for this season? Help me out

Sorry people crapped on your article. You'll do better as you write more and use HF as the basis for your thesis.

Seriously, what has people optimistic (some people, as clearly many aren't optimistic) is that, although young, the defense has never looked so promising. If you don't believe they will take a step forward I find that hard to believe. Going into last year the CBJ were picked by almost all pundits to be a playoff team. Either the players truly are that bad, in which case we are screwed, or even a moderate bounce back makes this team competitive and a playoff contender (not Cup contender). The young players that are going to join the lineup won't be required to play top 6 minutes or top 4 minutes (D) which is a very good situation to bring young, promising players into. Contributions from Bjorkstrand and Werenski will be noticeable yet they won't have to "carry" the team.

There are holes on the team and they could flat out suck. I don't believe Foligno is the player we saw last year. I'm excited that Savard and JJ won't draw top pair responsibilities. I believe this team has at least 5 players that will score 20+ goals. Torts will improve shot suppression and defensive structure with a full camp. I am counting on a step forward from Murray and Jones - which would make the D very solid (If you can't expect improvement from young players with experience then that's another problem). Last but not least, I feel as thought the experience of Korpisalo and Forsberg will insulate possible problems with Bob. I also know Bob is one of the hardest workers on the team and wants to thrive. Health is the issue and that's a big concern. However, I feel better if we have to rely on Korpi or Forsberg for a period of time.

Pipe dream? Maybe but I just don't see how so many can consider the CBJ a playoff team one year and then feel they are a bottom 5 team the next based on the make up of the team. It isn't a world beater but they play all three zones, are young and talented and have a lot of players with something to prove.

 

[JacketsDavid]

Pipe dream? Maybe but I just don't see how so many can consider the CBJ a playoff team one year and then feel they are a bottom 5 team the next based on the make up of the team. It isn't a world beater but they play all three zones, are young and talented and have a lot of players with something to prove.

people bet on the prior year finish plus the acquisitions (Saad) to play well and assumed if the team was healthy they would play well. They didn't. Bob has regressed badly when healthy and is oft injured. The defense as you said has potential and likely will be better because we have a coach that stresses defensive responsibility more, but there is a lot of youth. Seth Jones was a -11 in half a season with the CBJ so yes he played a lot of minutes, but he gave up a lot of goals. Throw in another rookie in Werenerski and you have a lot of youth that needs time. So last year we stunk defensively, not sure how you think they are much better this season (only logical thing is coaching but coach was in place for 74 games). Goaltending is a major question with Bob - but his production and ability to stay on the ice.

Bottom line is a lot of us (I picked us to slip into the playoffs last year, not sure how many projected us to be atop 4 team in East) got fooled based upon a strong finish and what looked like an improved roster. Maybe what we still have is a dysfunctional team? A team that starts slow and usually are out of it by new Years.